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ALL AROUND 



THE BAY OF PASSAMAQUODDY 



WITH THE INTERPRETATION OF ITS INDIAN 
NAMES OF LOCALITIES 



ALBERT S" GATSCHET 



M 



3b4iiO 



[^Rbpkintkd prom The National Geographic Magazine, Vol. VIII, No. 1 

jAjfUARY, 1897] 



WASHINGTON, D. C. 

J ODD A DETWEILKR, PRINTKRP 

1897 



3 b|7v 



ALL AROUND THE BAY OF PASSAMAQUODDY 

By Albert S. Gatschet, 
Bureau of American Ethnology 

Travelers coming from tlie soutli will find in the deeply in- 
dented coast lands of the state of Maine a type of landscape 
differing considerably from others previously noticed. Through 
the fiord-like character of Maine's tidewater section the water 
element everywhere blends in with terra Jirma, which alternately 
projects and recedes, and by the well-marked color contrast be- 
tween the blue ocean and the green or somber-hued earth strikes 
our sight agreeabl}'. The level shore lands of the southern At- 
lantic states are here replaced by hills, headlands, and capes of 
bolder outlines, partly clothed in the fainter green of northern 
vegetation, while other elevations exhibit the rocky, ocean-beaten 
foundation upon which they are built. The dark-hued pine and 
fir trees, which in other countries live in the mountains onl}^, 
here descend to the sea-coast, enlivening the tops and sides of 
the numerous islands which lie scattered along the coast. The 
further we proceed northeastward along the coast, the more the 
scenery assumes a northern character. This is well evidenced 
by the spare vegetation and the thinness of the humus which 
we notice everywhere in and around Passamaquoddy bay, an 
extensive basin, the waters of which are fed by the majestic St 
Croix river fi-om the north and by the St George or Megigadevic 
river from the east. The mainland encompasses this bay on all 
sides, fringing it with rock-bound promontories and some flat 
sand spits ; only on the southeast side does it open toward the 
Atlantic ocean, and there a row of islands forms its limit and 
affords numerous [)assages suitable for navigation. 

The elevations encircling the bay of Passamaquoddy, though 
bolder than those we see further south, are mostly flat-topped 
and of ttime outlines. They are nearing an incline of 20 to 30 
degrees, and therefore the local erosion through the impact of 
rain is not very considerable. None of the hills or islands in the 
bay rise al)ove sea level more than ai)out 300 feet. A feature that 
may be pertinently called the headhuid shore is prominent here- 

Whenever a portion of the mainland or of one of the larger 
islands in this region advances toward the salt water it first 



17 ALL AROUND THE BA Y OF PASSAMAQUODDY 

sinks clown, forming a depression, and then rises as a Icnoll or 
rounded hillock or hill before it ])lunges its rocky face abruptly 
into the ocean. These formations, appro [iriately termed hrmU or 
headldnds, are frequent all around Passamaquoddy bay, Campo- 
bello island, Cobscook bay, and in man}'' other sections of the 
Maine and New Brunswick coasts. Beaches filled with coarse 
gravel, the detritus of the rocky shores, form the transitory stage 
between the headlands and the more level })romontories or points. 
Not infrequently one headland succeeds another in a line before 
reaching the water, and even after reaching the shore they reap- 
pear, jutting out from the briny element, two or three in suc- 
cession, and lying in one continuous file. This I have observed, 
e. (/., on the north shore of Cobscook bay, west of Eastport, 
Maine. Campobello island, New Brunswick, is replete with 
" heads " on its far-extending shores, the island being eleven 
miles long from north to south ; thus we have Bald head, Wilson 
head, East Quoddy head, Friar's head, Head harbor— whereas 
the term " point," less frequent there, ajipears in more numerous 
instances on the west side of the bay and up the St Croix river. 

Two large whirlpools, perceptible in the channel of the St Croix 
river, are objects of great curiosity to ^he strangers visiting these 
parts. One of them occurs between Moose island and the southern 
end of Deer island. New Brunswick ; the other, of minor pro{)or- 
tions,lies two miles above, the river being over one mile wide at 
each place. They are carefully avoided 1)}^ peo})le passing, either 
in a white man's boat or in the Indians' canoe, for, like Char3d)dis 
of old, they are liable to capsize any small craft that ventures to 
come too near. They owe their existence not exclusively to the 
shock |)roduced by the impact of the currents from the bay meet- 
ing those of the river, but also to the incoming tides and to a 
difference of tem{)erature between the two bodies of water. 

The air temperature is generally low on the bay and around 
it. Winter begins in October, and even at midsummer persons 
who are not provided with warm clothing will often feel a chill 
pervading their system when a sudden breeze breaks in from the 
north or a thick fog stays till noontime over the ever-moving 
waters. The weather is generally serene throughout the 3'ear, 
but nevertheless morning fogs are of frequent occurrence. 

The Canadian Pacific is the onl}^ railroad company that brings 
visitors to the hospitable shores of Passamaquoddy ba}^ but there 
are numerous steamboats pl3'ing between St Andrews, St Ste- 
phen, Calais, and Eastport and the neighboring cities of St Johns, 



ALL AROUND THE BAY OF PASSAMAQUODDY 18 

Bar Harbor, and Portland. Whether the tourist visits these parts 
for sightseeing or for restoring iin{)aired health by tlie aid of their 
bracing sea-breezes, he is sure to take a peculiar interest in the 
native Indians, whom he sees peddling their neat baskets and 
toys along tiie streets, on steamboats, and on hotel verandas. But 
little attention is needed to scan the Indian among a crowd of 
})eople l)y his dusk}' complexion and a sort of nonchalance in 
his deportment. His appearance and habits show him to be a 
living and moving survival from preliistoric times. 

The Passama(iuodily Indians of Maine constitute a portion of 
the northeastern or Al)naki grou[) of the widespread Algonkinian 
stock, of wliicli tlie ancient (k)main extended over a large area 
of the United .States and Canada. The Al)naki Indians now sur- 
viving are divided into five sections, among which (I) tbe Pe- 
nobscots in Oldtown are tbe nearest affinity in language and race 
to the (2) St Francis ladlaas of Canada ; (8) the Passaviaquoddies, 
whose nearest kinsmen are (4) the Milicites, or Etchemins (this 
is their Micmac name), scattered along the St Johns river, New 
Brunswick; (5) the Micmacs, settled in Nova Scotia and on the 
east coast of New Brunswick. 

The ])resent Passamaquoddies are about five hundred in num- 
ber, and a large intermixture with white blood has taken place, 
which according to a safe estimate may amount to one-third of 
the tribe. In about the same proportion they have also preserved 
their Indian vernacular, which among its European loan words 
counts more of English than of French origin. Many of these 
natives exhibit unmistakably the full physical marks of Indian 
descent — the long, straight, and dark hair, the strong nasal bone, 
and a rather dark com])lexion. Tiie cheek-bones are not very 
prominent. The majority of tlie tril)e are slim-built and of a 
medium stature. They are not increasing, and their Indian 
congeners on the Penobscot river are positivelv on the decrease. 

No central chief rules over these Indians now, but each of their 
three settlements in Maine has a sagum or elective governor. 
These settlements all lie on watercourses or on the seashore. 
The one nearest to Eastj)ort is at Pleasant })oint, near the town 
of Perry ; another is in a suburb of Calais, and a third one for. 
merly lived upon Lewis island, but transferred its seats to the 
neighboring Peter Dana's point, near Princeton, on the Kenne- 
bassis river, about 4'2 miles north of p]astj)ort. Fishing is one 
of their chief industries, but in this they now follow entirely the 
example set by the white man ; they care nothing for agriculture, 
and their village at [feasant i)oint is l)uilt U|)on the rockiest and 



19 ALL AROUND THE BAY CF FASSAMAQUODDY 

most unproductive ground that could have heen selected. The 
same may be said of some other Indian settlements, for many- 
Indians do not require any better soil to rest their houses upon. 

The industries now forming their main support are the man- 
ufacture of toy boats from Ijirch bark, of fishing canoes from the 
same material, of Axns from ash-wood, and, chiefly, of ornamental 
and fancy baskets from the wood of the yelhnv ash. The baskets 
are made by the women, and during the summer season the men 
sell them in the markets, especially at the watering places and 
in the commercial centers of tlie eastern states. The women 
disi>lay a high degree of taste in selecting tlieir models for these 
tiny, elegant, and delicate art-products. The ash-wood is split 
into splints or blades of extreme thinness by machinery, seldom 
wider than an inch, then dyed in all possible, but always bright, 
colors. After this the splints are interlaced so as to form baskets 
of the most varied shapes. During the work of interlacing, 
blades of sweet-scented grass are inserted in the baskets, and 
thus " finished " they are sent to the stores with a fragrant odor, 
which clings to them for months and increases their salabilit^^ 

The present area of the Passamaquoddy dialect is confined 
within a small district in Washington county, in southeastern 
Maine, and limited to the three settlements already mentioned. 
We may, however, add to it the area of the jNIilicite or '"Broken 
language" dialect, which is heard in five or six Indian villages 
on the St -Johns or Ulastuk river, in New Brunswick, and differs 
but little from Passamaquoddy. In former centuries these two 
dialectic areas were much more extensive, the jiroof of this rest- 
ing in the spread of geographic names worded in Passamaquoddy 
over the whole of Washington and Hancock counties, a part of 
Aroostook county, Maine, and over the western ])art of the New 
Brunswick territory. Just as large as this historic area was that 
of tlie Penobscot dialect, for, as the local names still demonstrate, 
it eml)raced the whole Penobscot river basin, with tlie vallej's 
of its numerous tributaries. 

Inquiry into the signification of historic and actual geographic 
names of Indian origin has of late become popular among the 
educated classes of Americans. It is just twelve years since 
Charles Godfrey Leland encouraged those who might be able to 
accomplish the task to solve the riddles contained in the names 
of that country, most of which have a sound so musical and 
harmonious.* Long acquainted with the great historic value of 

*The Ceiitiuy Masazine, New Vork, \^M, vol. ?8, pp. (;68-G77. in I.eland's article: 
"Legends of the I'lissatriMquoddies."' 



ALL AROUND THE BAY OF PASSAMAQUODDY 



20 



topographic names, Leland's suggestion induced me, while study- 
incr tlie dialect, to listen to the opinions of capable Indians when 
I requested them to interpret a series of these names. Many 
interpretations thus obtained were so crude and ungrammatic 
that thev could not be sustained for a moment ; but the majority 
of those resting on a correct linguistic basis disclosed the fact 
that they are mostly compound nouns and combinations either 
of two substantives or of an adjective and a substantive, with 
the substantive standing last. In the first case, the noun stand- 
in- first is sometimes connected with the noun standing second 
b^"the case-sufhx t,as in Edu'ki m^ni'kn, Deer island, from &duk, 
deer The local names around the bay mostly refer to the watery 
element, for the terms beach, sand-bar, cliff, rocky shore, island, 
headland, point, bay and cove, current and confluence make up 
almost the whole terminology of the region. The frequent end- 
in- -k (-ak, -ik, -ok, -Ilk) sometimes marks the plural of a noun 
considered as animate, but more frequently it is the locative case- 
endmg observed in all Algonkinian dialects under various forms. 
This case-sufhx corresponds minutely to our prepositions at, m, 
on, upon, at the place or spot of. It also obtains in the Penobscot 
and Milicite dialects ; but in the southwest corner of Maine occur 
a numl)er of geographic names in -et, -it, -ot, which approximates 
the dialect in which they originate to that of Massachusetts and 
of Eliot's Bible. So we meet there with names like Abadasset, ^ 

Harriseekit, Manset, Millinoket,Ogunquit, Pejepscot (Sheepscot), 
Webhannet, and Wiscasset. The name Penobscot cannot be ad- 
duced here, for its original form in that dialect is Panawampskelc, 
^" where the conical rocks are." 

The ladlan names of elevations, rivers, and localities are in 
this article spelt in a scientific alphabet in which the vowels 
possess the value of and are pronounced as they are m the ian- 
guao-es of the European continent.* To readers it will soon ap- 
pear how inconsistently the Indian names were rendered by the 
American and British natives in their pronunciation and how 
often parts of them were dropped entirely. These Indian names 
are -enerallv easy to pronounce for Americans; still, Algonkin- 
ian dialects'have a tendency to drop vowels when standing be- 
tween consonants at the beginning of words. This causes a 
peculiar difhcultv of utterance, and makes some of them unpro- 
nounceable to a majority of English-speaking peoide. 

*g is always liavd and « has the sound of e in bucket. 



21 A LL ARO UND THE BA Y OF PASSA MA Q UODD Y 

A LIST OF INDIAN GEOGRAPHIC NAMKS OCCURRING AROUND PA8SA- 
]\IAQUODDY BAY, MAINE, WITH THEIR DERIVATIONS 

Bar Harbor, .Mount Desert, and INIoiint Desert island are all called in 
Indian Pessank or Pessan, " at the clam-digging place or places;" 
from ess, " shell," referring here to the clam only ; p- prefix, -an ver- 
bal ending. 

Bay of Fundy, a storm-beaten corner. of the Atlantic ocean between 
Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, is to the Indians V/ekwal)egituk, 
" waves at the head of the bay," -tuk referring to waters driven in 
waves or moved by the tide. Nowhere else in the world are the tides 
so liigh as in this l)ay. (See Oak bay.) 

Bishop's point, a locality on nortii head of Grand Manan island. New 
Brunswick. Its Indian name, Budebe-uhigen, means death-trap of 
whales, from budebe-u, "whale"; -higen, a suffix which stands for 
" tool " or " instrument." 

Campobello island, New Brunswick, is called Ebagwidek, from its posi- 
tion l)etween Maine and the mainland of New Brunswick, "floating 
between;" eba, between; gwiden, floating. Another Indian name 
for this island is Edlitik, which seems to refer to the sudden deepen- 
ing of the waters on the west side. 

Cherry island, a rocky formation just south of Indian island, New Bruns- 
wick, is known to the native Indian as Misik nt^gusis, "at the little 
island of ti-ees." Misi is "tree" or " trees; " misik, " where trees 
stand;" negu, abbreviation of m'niku, "island;" -sis, diminutive 
ending. 

Cobscook bay, a body of salt water lying west and soutiiwest of Moose 
island. It is the Indian term kapskuk, "at the waterfalls." The 
tide, rising here daily to about twenty feet, enters into the sinuosi- 
ties of the shorelands, and the waters returning to the ocean form 
rapids, riffles, or cascades (kapsku). 

Deer island. New Brunswick, a large isle at the southern extremity of 
Passamaquoddy bay, is Eduki m'niku, " of the deer the island." 

D'Orville's head, eminence where St Croix river empties into Passama- 
quoddy bay ; Kwagustchus'k, " at tiie dirty mountain ; " from kwag- 
w^yu, "dirty;" tchus, "mountain;" -k, locative particle, "at." 
Tiie name was long ago corrui)ted into the more popular " Devil's 
head." 

Eastport, city and harbor, has the same Indian name as .Uoo.sc Ixhwd, 
upon which it is built, Muselenk. This is a corruption from the hy- 
brid compound Mus-elilnd'k, its second half being a corruption of 
island, with the locative -k appended. The locality where the las 
moose was killed, about a century ago, lies on its northern part. The 
genuine Indian name for ^Moose island is Mils m'niku. The ^loose 
islanders (and the Eastport i)eople especially ) are called Museleniek. 

Eel brook, a small rivulet at the northern end of Grand Manan island, 
is in Indian Katekadik, which stands for Kat-akadik, and signifies 
" where (-k) eels (kat) are plentiful (akadi)." 



ALL AROUND THE BAY OF PASSAMAQVODDY 22 

Gardner's lake, in Machias township, is called Neindanisw' agnm, the 
term nenuiani desiijnating a species of fresh-water fish rushing up 
brooks and channels (nem, ripward) ; agum, "lake." 
Grand Manan, New Brunswick, a large island with high shores, south 
of Passamaquoddy bay, is the Menanuk of the Indians. The name 
probal)ly signifies "at the island " in the Micmac dialect. 
Herring cove, a large sea-beach on the east side of Campobello island, 
facing Fundy l)ay and Grand Manan island, is called Pitchamkiak, 
"at the long beach ; " pitcheyu, it is lontj ; amk, (j ravel ; -kie, Jicach ; 
locative case, -kiak. Tiiis cove has lately been made accessible by 
a good road leading to it from the Tyn-y-coed hotel, and with its 
picturesque views and its multicolored pebbles forms quite an attrac- 
tion to visitors. 
Indian island, New Brunswick, forms a narrow strip of one and a half 
miles' length at the southwestern entrance to Passamaquoddy bay, 
and was inhabited by these Indians before they crossed over to 
Lincoln's point and Pleasant point, Maine. They call it Misik-negiis, 
"at the tree island." The name of Cherry island (q. v.) is a diminu- 
tive of this. 
Kendall's head, a bold headland in northern part of Moose island and 
facing Deer island, New Brunswick, upon the "western passage" of 
St Croi.x river, is called by the Indians Wabi'genek, or " at the white 
bone," or Wabigen, "white bone," from the white color of a rock 
ledge on its top; wabi, white; -gen or -ken, bone; -k, at. 
Kunaskwamkuk, abbreviated frequently into Kunaskwamk, is a com- 
prehensive name given to the town of St Andrews, New Brunswick, 
to the heights above and north of it, where the Algonquin hotel is 
erected, and to the coast between St Andrews and Joe's point. The 
name signifies "at the gravel beach of the pointed top;" kunii, 
" point," referring to a sandbar projecting into the bay ; kunaskwa, 
"pointed top or extremity;" ttmk, "gravel," and here "gravelly 
beach;" -uk, locative ending, at, on, upon. 
Lubec, a village south of Eastport, at the narrows between Camjxibello 
island and the mainland of ]\Iaine, is called Kebamki'ak, " at the 
beach forming the narrows." Kebe-ik means " at the narrows," and 
is the same word as the Cree and Montagnais: Kebek, Quebec, in 
Canada ; -ki'ak is the locative case of kie, " at the beach or beaches." 
Machias and East Machias, two towns on the southern trend of the 
Maine coast, in Washington county, which were settled from Scar- 
borough, in ^Nlaine, rejiresent the term metchiess, partridge. 
Meddybemps village and Meddybemps lake, drained by Dennj^s 
river, Dennysville township, are called after a fresh-water fish, mede- 
bess'm, or the Jianpont. 
Moose island. (See Eastport.) 

Moosehead lake, in the interior of INIaine, Piscataquis county, is called 
in Passamaquoddy Ktchi-s:iguk, "at the wide outlet." A literal 
translation of the English name would be Musatp agemuk ; niiis, 
"moose deer;" -atp suffix referring to "head;" agemuk, "at the 
lake." Chesuncook is in Penobucot dialect the name of a lake to the 



23 ALL AROUND THE BA Y OF PASSAMAQUODDY 

nortlieast of ]\Ioosehead lake, and signifies " at the big outlet," 
Ktchi-sankuk. 

Mount Katahdin, on Penobscot river, thongh its name is worded in the 
Penol)scot dialect, may be mentioned here assignifying " large moun- 
tain ;" tiie syllable kt- is equivalent to ktchi, " large, great, big; " 
ad'ne, ad'na, is "mountain." The Penobscot Indians pronounce it 
Kta'd'n (a short) ; the Passamaqnoddies, Ktad'n (a long). 

Norumbega is the alleged name of a river and some ancient villages or 
Indian "cities" in Maine, spelled in many different ways, but never 
located with any degree of certainty. The name does not stand for 
any Indian settlement, but is a term of the Abnaki languages, which 
in Penobscot sounds nalambigi, in Passamaquoddy nalabegik — both 
referring to the " still, quiet" (nala-) stretch of a river between two 
riffles, rapids, or cascades ; -begik, for nipegik, means "at the water." 
On the larger rivers and watercourses of Maine ten to twenty of these 
" still water stretches " may occur on each ; hence the impossibility 
of determining the sites meant by the old authors speaking of these 
localities. Narmitnuak, now Norridgewok, on middle Penobscot river, 
has the same meaning. 

Oak bay, a large inlet of St Croix river, east of the city of Calais, is 
named Wekwayik — "at the head of the bay." 

Passamaquoddy bay, according to its orthography now current, means 
the bay where pollock is numerous or plentiful. The English spell- 
ing of the name is not quite correct, for the Indians pronounce it 
Peskedgmakcidi pekudebegek. Peskgdem is the pollock-fish or " skip- 
per," "jumper ;" called so from its habit of skipping above the sur- 
face of the water and falling into it again ; -kadi, -akadi is a sutfix, 
marking j^lenty or abundance of the object in question. (Cf. the name 
Acadia, derived from this ending.) Tiiere are several places on the 
shores of this bay especially favorable for the catch of this food-fish, 
like East Quoddy head, etc, as mentioned previously in this article. 
Quoddy, the abbieviated name now given to a hotel in Eastport, 
should be spelt: Kadi or Akadi, for there is no n-sound in this Indian 
term, and it would be better to write the name of the bay, if scientific 
accuracy is desired, " Peskedemakadi bay." 

Pembroke lake, a long water sheet, stretching from northwest to south- 
east, is in Indian Imnakwan ilgum, or " the lake where sweet tree- 
sap is obtained." Mukwan, or "sweet," stands for the liquid sugar 
running from the sugar maple in season. Agum means " lake." 

Pleasant point, Indian village on the western shore of St Croix river, is 
called Sibii-ik, Sibayik: "at the water-passage, on the thoroughfare 
for ships or canoes," which refers to the sites just south of the 
" point." 

Princeton, a village on the Kennebasis river, south shore (an affluent of 
the St Croix river from the west), is called Mdakmiguk, " on the 
rising soil ; " from mda, " high, rising," and kmigu, an abbreviation 
of ktakmigu, " land, soil, territory." 

Red Beach, on west shore of lower St Croix river, Calais township, 
above Robbinston, is named Mekwamkes'k, " at the small red 



A LL A ROUND THE BA Y' OF PA SSA MA Q UODD Y 24 

beach;" from m6kw(a), "red;" fimk, "beach;" -ers, (liniiimtive 
ending, " small, little," and 'k, -uk, locative case suffix, '' at, on." 

Schoodic or Skudik, " at the clearings," is a topographic term given to 
tlie Schoodic or Grand lake, on headwaters of 8t Croix river ; also to 
the St Croix river itself, and to the town of Calais, built on its lower 
course. That these clearings were effected by burning down the 
timber appears from the term itself; for skwiit, skiit means fire, and 
the name really means " at the fire." Another Skudik lake lies in the 
southeastern corner of Piscataquis county, Maine. 

St Croix river, in Indian Skudik sip, " the river of clearings ; " from the 
clearings on its shores or on the i-'ki'uiik lake, where the river takes its 
origin. For a long distance it forms the frontier between Maine 
(Washington county) and New Brunswick. The French name, " ?loly 
Cross," came from a cross erected by early French explorers. 

St Francis river, in Canada, Ontario province, upon which Indians 
cognate to the Penobscots of Maine are living, is called by them 
Lesigantuk, a contraction of Ulastigan-tuk. The same name is given 
to their village and to the natives themselves. 

St George and St George river, emptying into the northeast end of 
Passamaquoddy bay, are just as well known by their Indian name, 
Megigadewik, "many eels having ; " from meg\, many ; gat or kat, 
eel ; -wi, adjectival ending; -k, locative case suffix. 

St John river, running near the western border of New Brunswick and 
its large tributary, the Aroostook, are both called in Penobscot and 
in Passamaquoddy, TJlastiik, "good river," meaning river of easy 
navigation, without cascades, falls, or rapids; from ula, wuH, good ; 
-tuk, tidal river and waters driven in waves. 



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